Recently ousted Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Susan Monarez told senators on Wednesday she was fired after being pressured to endorse new vaccine recommendations without scientific evidence.
She said she also refused to fire top health officials without cause and accused Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy of prioritizing politics above science.
Monarez was fired from her position last month just 29 days after being confirmed by the Senate. She was given an ultimatum to approve new vaccine recommendations from a CDC advisory panel mired in controversy after Kennedy filled posts with medical experts who question vaccine safety or lose her job, she told lawmakers.
“I was fired for holding the line on scientific integrity,” Monarez said during a hearing with the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. “I had refused to commit to approving vaccine recommendations without evidence, fire career officials without cause, or resign.”
Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican who cast the deciding vote on Kennedy’s confirmation, questioned what changed so quickly that led to Monarez’s removal after the administration touted her qualifications, including when Kennedy praised her “unimpeachable scientific credentials.”
Monarez’s nomination was supported by every Republican in the Senate who were told a month later that she was fired after the secretary said she was untrustworthy.
“If what he said is true we as senators need to ask ourselves did we look past something? Did we do something wrong?” Cassidy said. “It may be we did nothing wrong. In which case the onus is on you to prove the criticisms leveled by the secretary are not true.”
Monarez also said Kennedy directed her to fire multiple high-level officials without cause.
“I could have kept the office and the title, but I would have lost the one thing that cannot be replaced: my integrity,” Monarez said.
Senators also heard from Dr. Debra Houry, who was the CDC’s chief medical officer until she quit in frustration. Houry told the committee Kennedy “repeatedly censored” science and “politicized our processes.”
Kennedy is under intense scrutiny for his handling of the CDC and his stances on vaccines that was the subject of a heated hearing earlier this month, where he also said Monarez was untrustworthy and that officials who left the agency in support of her deserved to be fired.
Democrats, none of whom voted for Monarez’s confirmation, said her firing validates their concerns about Kennedy wanting officials who were a rubber stamp for his agenda and that his skepticism of vaccines was undermining faith in public health.
“Dr. Monarez was fired because she refused to act as a rubber stamp to implement Secretary Kennedy’s dangerous agenda to substantially limit the use of safe and effective vaccines that would endanger the lives of the American people and people throughout the world,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.
The hearing comes as the vaccine panel is starting its meeting in Atlanta to discuss vaccines for COVID-19, hepatitis B and chickenpox, which Monarez said she was “very nervous about.” The CDC is not required to accept the recommendations of the advisory panel, though it typically does.
“I know that the medical community has raised concerns about whether or not, again, they have the commensurate backgrounds to be able to understand the data and the evidence and to evaluate it appropriately,” Monarez said. “I don’t know what will happen, but I certainly will be watching.”
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